Have your cake and eat it too
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day seven hundred and thirty-nine: It's her birthday... Is it so much to ask for both parents to attend?  aka 'The Empress' and 'The Emperor'


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 35th cycle. Now cycle 36!_

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><p><em>Had the idea for this cycle back in July or August where I thought it'd be interesting to do <strong>a set inspired by tarot cards<strong>. My initial research then directed me to the cards of **the Major Arcana**, of which there were 22, so I combined two, which got me to 21, making this a cycle-long set of stories. Then I did more research, to find out about each of those cards, and what they can represent. Now I need to point out that it's a more or less basic approach. I don't go into the reverse meaning or other things, just this part.** ** If you would like the document of info I've collected and based myself on, let me know and I'll send it, since it covers the next three weeks' worth of stories. **** Lastly, in connection to the first card, **'The Fool'**, and the journey through those other cards, this entire cycle will feature, in lead or supporting form, one **Brittany S. Pierce**..._

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><p><strong>"Have your cake and eat it too"<br>or 'The Empress'/'The Emperor'  
>Brittany &amp; Sue, Joe...<br>Extra to Sylvesters Series  
>Ties to 'The Pink Majestics' <strong>

On the day itself, a Wednesday this year, she would have a movie night with Santana – her choice – but she wasn't the only one who would want to celebrate Brittany's birthday.

Every year, she and her mother would have their day together, do whatever she wanted… Her mother would grumble about some of it, but she'd never deny her… sometimes she even ended up having fun… whether she'd admit it or not. In the end it would be the two of them and a couple pieces of cake at the kitchen table… The activities were fun, the presents… but this was always her favorite part.

Only this year was different. This year she had her father, too, for the very first time in her life… and in his life. So it was only fair that they should get to spend her birthday together, too, finally. It was going to be a surprise, but then Izzy had accidentally let it slip… then it got complicated.

It wasn't like it was going to be one or the other. She would get to have a day with her mother, a day with her father and the others, except… she wanted more. She had a chance to have something she'd never had but secretly always wanted… to have both her parents, together, for her birthday. She wanted to have that cake in front of her, candles burning bright, to look up into her mother and father's faces before blowing out the flames and sealing in her birthday wish.

Making it happen was not going to be easy. Her parents were not exactly friendly with one another. Her father, he would have been fine, except in the last few weeks her mother's issues with him had… escalated. She knew her mother didn't like having to share her with her father, even if she'd been able to compromise every so often, including letting Brittany live at both their house and her father's. But Brittany wasn't fooled, she could see how her mother would get when he would come up in conversation. Part of her felt responsible for it, because of how she'd kept the fact that she'd met him a secret from her mother. Maybe if she'd been honest the two of them could have been better with each other.

But this was going to be her birthday… They couldn't possibly say no on her birthday, right?

She wasn't sure how she was going to do it, how she should do it. Her father wasn't going to be the hard sell, despite everything, but her mother… She had to get to her when she wasn't in a bad mood… In the morning, probably, before school, before… Schuester…

So she'd gone ahead and mixed up a protein shake for her – she knew how to make them since she was tall enough to reach the mixer – and she brought it to her when she knew she was awake… if she woke her up, it wouldn't matter if she had a hundred shakes in her hands… not that she could do that… she could carry three at most.

"Morning…" she kept her voice sweet and happy, smiling at her. Sue paused, looking at her.

"What do you want?" she asked, and Brittany blinked. Sue motioned for her to bring the shake, so she did. She sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at her empty hands once they were empty.

"My birthday's next week…"

"I remember," Sue nodded.

"We've got our day, like every year, and I've got my day with Dad, too…" she continued. Sue didn't say a word, though she was listening. "But… there's something else I want. I talked to Santana, and she agreed to have our movie night on Tuesday instead, so… On my birthday, I want us to have dinner."

"Us?" Sue tested.

"You, me, Dad, Charlotte, Cat, Izzy, and Grandpa." Sue was about to talk, but Brittany cut her off. "I know you don't like him…" That quieted her. "I don't understand, because he's great and all, but I still know… It's my birthday, and birthdays are special… You get wishes and everything. I've been wishing for this one since I was little, to have my mom and dad at my birthday…" her voice had grown small and shy… hopeful and needing. "Even if you guys don't like each other…"

"It's more complicated than that," Sue finally spoke up, looking back into those blue eyes, Joe's eyes… All these years he wasn't there, but he was still there, staring back at her in those eyes… and now they were back together, and it was almost too much to bear. "But you're right."

"About what?"

"Birthdays are special," she took the girl's hand, gave her a small smile and got a huge one in return. "I'm not going to become his friend," she went on.

"I know," Brittany insisted.

And on Wednesday night, at her father's house, Brittany got her wish… got her cake, and her parents, and her stepmother, and her sisters, and her grandfather, all of them all around… None of them could know how this had just become her best birthday… just because they were there.

At the end of the evening, which she was scheduled to spend at her father's, once the guests were gone, she had helped with the cleaning up. She was on her own with the dishes when two more hands plunged into the soapy waters and began to clean alongside her. Joe gave her shoulder a playful bump with his own, and she smiled. "Good birthday?" he asked.

"Great birthday," she corrected. They had had their day, that weekend, the family, with presents and everything. One of them was a necklace, which she'd worn that night.

"The word around here was you were worried about having your mother and I here tonight," Joe spoke, and Brittany looked at him.

"You loved her, right?" she found herself asking, and she didn't have to explain who she meant.

"I did," he bowed his head, scrubbing at a plate. "Part of me always will, especially now, for knowing she gave me you," he looked back at her and she smiled again.

"And she loved you…"

"She did." There was a pause. "Things may not have happened the way we would expect or hope for them to happen, but that's how life is sometimes. What matters now is that we're here, and we're together. We just have to adjust to what happened in between."

"It just made me sad… not to know you…" her voice trailed. He bumped her shoulder again, lighter, comforting. She looked back at him.

"I know the feeling," he told her, and she smiled.

"One birthday when I was little, Grandpa took me to a farm and I played with pigs…" she revealed with her smile growing into a grin. Joe laughed. "We visited them every year for a while, other animals, too… Love them…" she sighed happily.

"Yeah," the veterinarian smiled, "Love them, too."

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>******always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******


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